Texas Gov. Rick Perry made a strong impression on lobbyists, trade association executives, foreign policy experts and campaign donors during a series of private meetings in the nation’s capital.

That’s according to pro-Perry participants who attended one of Perry’s get togethers on Friday at the headquarters of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors.

“I think Governor Perry was very well served by the session,” said Dirk Van Dongen, head of the association and a GOP insider who served as finance chairman in the nation’s capital for the 2008 presidential campaign of former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

“Candidates obviously come to Washington for fund-raising but that’s a small part of it,” said Van Dongen, a Perry donor. “The reality is there are hundreds of folks in DC who are influential in the sense that they shape decisions made by organizations, decisions made by clients and decisions made by colleagues across the country. It’s a huge echo chamber for candidates.”

Kirk Blalock, a lobbyist who formerly served as the Bush administration’s White House liaison to the business community, said Perry reaped potential dividends from a low-profile visit with few of the trappings of a presidential campaign.

“Most folks in Washington are comfortable with Mitt Romney because he spent six years courting Washington,” said Blalock, also a Perry donor. “Few people know Rick Perry because he has been focused on Texas. This was an opportunity for some people here to hear his message directly.”

Participants said Perry touched on the economic revival plan that he plans to unveil next Tuesday – a plan that calls in part for simplification of the complicated federal tax code in favor of a so-called flat tax that would apply equally to all income groups. But Perry did not offer specifics.

Perry also outlined his road map to the GOP presidential nomination — a path that has been complicated by the rise of former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain into second place in polls behind Romney.

“The governor emphasized he was the true conservative in the race — and not the conservative of convenience,” said one participant, recalling Perry’s pointed criticism of Romney during last Tuesday’s debate.

Perry told his audience that he had only entered the race nine weeks ago and that barely nine weeks remain before the Iowa precinct caucuses on Jan. 3, meaning candidates are already “halfway through” the early stages of the race.

“He said he likes where he is in the race, he’s enjoying himself and there will be a lot more policy coming out in the weeks ahead,” said the participant, speaking on condition of anonymity. “He basically said, `This can be done and here is why I think it can be done because I have a record of doing it.”

The campaign tried to keep Perry’s visit off the radar screen. Officials declined to disclose the governor’s schedule, participants in the meetings or subjects touched upon during one of his rare forays inside the Beltway – apparently the first since tumbling from front-runner status.

“The governor had a series of private meetings throughout the day,” campaign spokesman Mark Miner told the Houston Chronicle. “The meetings were private.”